Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

Here’s a challenge. What do these five objects have in common -- kryptonite; Sauron’s ring; canned spinach; Thor’s hammer; the sword Excalibur?

Answer: they were all once associated with super-powers. Sauron’s ring made Bilbo and Frodo Baggins invisible, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series of novels. Thor’s hammer and the sword Excalibur made their owners invincible in battle. And spinach gave the cartoon character Popeye super-strength.

Kryptonite also deals with super-powers, but negatively. It robbed power from Superman. It rendered him helpless.

Those five things also have one other common characteristic. Only an older generation finds them familiar.